What positive can you list today?

[DotPark]

39 minutes ago, KayC said:

Wow, that's a lot.  And I understand about the eyesight, I haven't had new glasses for over two years and have to wait until Spring as they're booked up.

I'm sure what you are doing is much appreciated!

It's a privilege to serve. I get back way more than I give! 

[KayC]

That's how it usually is!

[KayC]

I've long wished Iris would leave Jazzy out of her kennel, well she called and said she's leaving her in the yard for four hours.  I was so elated!  Then she said Jazzy really wanted to go with her so she's taking her, but I'm hoping this means a change will be in store for her, she's nearly four and it's time to trust her.

[RichS]

57 minutes ago, KayC said:

I've long wished Iris would leave Jazzy out of her kennel, well she called and said she's leaving her in the yard for four hours.

If only Iris knew what it would be like to be left in a cage for hours, she might decide to let her dog run loose in the yard.

[widower2]

Amen. Not sure I know the full story here but frankly I don't want to (so don't tell me!).

Anyway - 

My positive is a small one, but for me it's rare, so: I had to do some shopping today and I HATE shopping for anything. Usually I either don't find what I want or they're out or people in the store are just annoying or there are long lines and people going so slow in self-serve lines (etc). None of that today; I had to make trips to three diff stores (including groceries)...found what I wanted, got in and out, had a few pleasant exchanges with employees (chit chat), it was almost miraculous lol 

[Gail 8588]

Kay, 

I share your dislike for shopping.  Part of it is that I have too much stuff as it is.  I want to get rid of stuff, not buy more.  But the truth is I never was much of a shopper even when I was young.  The idea of hanging out at the mall all day to buy a blouse, earrings,  or such, was agony to me. My girl friends would ask me to go, but I'd rather do anything else: read, hang out with my brothers, ride my bike. 

Sometimes I have to shop for something specific to wear to an event.  I really dread it. Then I do it as quickly as I can, buying the first thing that will suffice. 

Christmas shopping has become much more tolerable now that I can order stuff from the internet and never go in a store. 🙂

Grocery shopping is okay, but I tend to only do that once a week.

Glad you got in and out with any annoyances.

[widower2]

Thanks but my name isn't Kay. If I were her, I'd be offended. 

[RichS]

My positive for today was receiving a check for $145 for a dental insurance claim from 2022 that was originally turned down.

[widower2]

Nice! My other positive for today was investigating Medicare and not going completely insane trying to make sense of it.

[KayC]

This is going to sound strange, but my positive is that we have our own platform here.  My diabetic group is on FB and they are constantly tweaking things and making our lives hell.  You have no idea how hard it is to operate with them!  Yesterday another big change, yay, thanks, FB!  Spent 1 1/2 hours on the phone while trying to eat dinner, with the other admin.  Ugh.  Then no sooner did we hang up and my internet went out.  How do you call and report it when all the phones are on it?  😕

[SSC]

My happy news for yesterday and today is my brother’s heart surgery was successful.  It’s amazing how often this guy has defied death…I watch and support from the sidelines just trying to be there for his wife and family.  I wish for her to have as much time with him as possible.

[RichS]

I just got a phone call a few minutes ago from my friend. His niece had a growth behind her eyes, causing her problems with her vision. It turns out her biopsy result showed the growth to be BENIGN and will be treatable in the future.

[KayC]

Both of your reports are so wonderful!

[DotPark]

Last night I was watching a livestream and the two guys (the Mads from MST3K) who host the show talked about cookies I had made them years ago (pre-COVID, when they did live shows). And all I wanted to do was tell my husband...and oops I can't. But it was still really cool.

[KayC]

Just got back from walking Kodie, I live in the most beautiful place in the world!  Wouldn't trade it for the city.  You may need to remind me of that when it'd winter and I'm wondering WHY I live here!  (Too much snow to shovel).  But still, even that is beautiful.

[widower2]

It's a trade-off for sure, Kay...where I live likely isn't as scenic as where you are, but it is a "nice" neighborhood and (most of the time) quiet...not convenient to much, but it's a fair trade. 

[KayC]

I just got back from walking Kodie and went to the fence to greet a neighbor's horse, and she reached over the fence and kissed me on the face!  That was the sweetest!  I made friends with her when Iris gave me an apple to feed her.  I wish I had more apples!

[Gail 8588]

On 11/14/2023 at 10:35 PM, widower2 said:

Thanks but my name isn't Kay. If I were her, I'd be offended. 

So sorry to you both.

I hope Kay is not offended, just understandably confused.  I just joined in your, Widower2's,  dislike for shopping. 

I blame my error on being sick for 3 solid weeks now.  Sorry.

[widower2]

Certainly no need for apologies! I couldn't resist the chance to comment   All good! 

Sorry you've been sick; hopefully on the mend.

[KayC]

So sorry you are sick, Gail.  It's hard to even think when you don't feel good.  And no need to apologize, I was just confused as I hadn't been shopping.

[foreverhis]

@Gail 8588 Oh dear! Gail, I hope you start feeling better soon.

My positive for yesterday is that a good friend took me out for BBQ dinner and then to see David Sedaris at our local PAC.  It was a long planned belated birthday gift. In my family and friends groups, we all tend to give each other either consumables or activities together instead of “stuff.” The value of sharing experiences far surpasses any other gift, IMO.

It was so much fun. We laughed and laughed and nodded along with so much of what he talked about from his essays and experiences. I honestly don’t think I have laughed so much or so hard since before John’s diagnosis.

My ongoing positive is watching my Cosi blossom as she overcomes her first year’s trauma. She is becoming the cat she should have always been allowed to be. What a bundle of strong willed love she is. And everyone says it’s all thanks to me. I think it’s more that we’ve made each other’s lives better, more fulfilled. That’s something to cherish—even when Little Miss Stubborn is testing my patience!

[KayC]

Iris invited me to dinner & a movie tonight.

Mine is also long belated birthday:   Melissa and her BF invited me to dinner in town tomorrow (over an hour's drive away) at a restaurant  I love (Chinese Buffet) it has a large selection I can easily eat Keto on.  Works better than TG anyway as not so much traffic on the highway and middle of the day.

[ThereIsAField]

1 hour ago, foreverhis said:

David Sedaris

He's so brilliant and funny... Haven't read anything of his in ages... Thanks for the reminder and glad you had a great time 😊

[ThereIsAField]

This made my day today... So sweet and what an absolute champion... I'm so jealous... I'd love to run a marathon... And 10 hours would be fine by me... She's so much more of a trooper than I am...! So inspirational...  🧡

 

[widower2]

4 hours ago, KayC said:

Melissa and her BF invited me to dinner in town tomorrow (over an hour's drive away) at a restaurant  I love (Chinese Buffet) 

4 hours ago, foreverhis said:

My positive for yesterday is that a good friend took me out for BBQ dinner

I hope you're happy; now I'm dying for BBQ or Chinese!

[widower2]

4 hours ago, foreverhis said:

Oh well, please allow me to "rub" it in then.😉 

You are so mean!

 

We decided to go to a newer place so we could spend the entire time comparing it to our two favorite BBQ spots.  Yes, I'm saying that great BBQ is available everywhere here.  And because we're kind of a "melting pot" of cuisines, we can get Memphis style or Carolina or Kansas City or Texas or Korean or...well, yum.

Quote

We enjoyed the Memphis style last night.  The pit masters put a twist on it with chopped garlic in the sauce as well as the granulated garlic in the rub.  Their slaw was a very modern and West Coast twist with shredded jicama and apples along with cabbage and carrots, and an apple-cider based dressing. akeout tonight."

Good gravy...garlic? Apples? ugh. Thanks I feel better    (PS purist point of contention, there is no such thing as "Carolina BBQ"...I think when people say that they mean Eastern NC BBQ, i.e. the vinegar-based stuff, which is my favorite far and away). 

[SSC]

That is one thing I’ll miss since my daughter moved from Orange County to St Augustine is the food in California.  All the great Chinese food and markets, sushi & ramen, poke, and great Mexican food!  It’s everywhere and we had our favorite non franchised places to go.  You can find anything in Southern California.

however, my daughter said the best fish tacos she’s ever tasted was in St Augustine so I’m looking forward to that!

[KayC]

My positive last night was going to Iris' for spaghetti squash, I brought the Rao's.  Could only have 1/2 cup squash, too high in carbs.  I made the dessert, Orange Delight, yummy, reminds me of a dreamcycle...orange jello mixed with yogurt, snow cone ice, whipped together with a bit of sweetener.  Topped with SF choc. syrup and whipping cream.   We watched a sappy movie. Kodie didn't understand why he isn't allowed on the couch with me.

Today's positive is meeting my daughter and her BF in town for a late celebration of mine and Kodie's bdy.    They finally sent the kids their $ from my sister's estate.  Made me think of John...

[shawnt]

BBQ,BBQ, I am going to eat.

[Boggled]

11 hours ago, widower2 said:

Good gravy...garlic? Apples? ugh. Thanks I feel better  

that's exactly what I was thinking.   hahahaha!     ... (sorry, foreverhis, I'm just sort of a cole slaw purist I guess)  Maybe it was good?  🤨

I've got my son & family coming for Thanksgiving!  ANTICIPATION.  I really like anticipation.

[Gail 8588]

8 hours ago, SSC said:

my daughter said the best fish tacos she’s ever tasted was in St Augustine so I’m looking forward to that!

There are a lot of great restaurants in St Augustine.  One of my favorite lunch places is Ned's Southside Kitchen on A1A.  Creekside Dinery is hard to find, just north of the Home Depot but they have great food, local musicians, large outdoor seating area with a big fire pit where kids roast marshmallows after dinner. Very family friendly.  

A great take-out only bbq is Smokey's at the corner of US-1 and SR206.

Makes me hungry just thinking about them all.

[RichS]

A positive thing or two (or more):

- Looking out my window and still seeing the fall foliage. The sun is shining bright this morning; making each leaf appear as if it were lit up!

- From time to time I go through my baseball card collection. I found some cards that have gone up in value since when I first stored them away.

- Salem has become a lap cat; which is nice on these chilly nights. Have to put up with some acupuncture until he settles in. A blanket usually saves my legs and knees.

- My uncle finally got his high powered glasses yesterday. He's adjusting to them and likes them overall. It's encouraging for him to now be able to see the letters and numbers on the TV. 

 

 

[KayC]

1 hour ago, RichS said:

My uncle finally got his high powered glasses yesterday. He's adjusting to them and likes them overall. It's encouraging for him to now be able to see the letters and numbers on the TV. 

Reminds me of when I had my sister to care for, she lost her vision in one eye because she ignored her macular degeneration several years and didn't say anything (she had dementia) but got a good lens for the one good eye.  She loved her new glasses!  I have them now, neatly folded in front of her and Bert's wedding picture.

1 hour ago, RichS said:

- Looking out my window and still seeing the fall foliage. The sun is shining bright this morning; making each leaf appear as if it were lit up!

Enjoy!

[Roxeanne]

My positive for today: go in a park with a good friend, a tender male...i miss my loved one tenderness! Talk about the old times under the still warm sun, in the middle of beautiful red tree ...and near us a tender young father that take care of his little daughter...i'm always  moved by father with his child, 'cos i didn't have the attention of my father...🙏

[KayC]

Enjoy your day, Roxeanne!

[widower2]

4 hours ago, foreverhis said:

Right. Apples and jicama are fine. The slaw was tasty, but my mouth said, “What is this doing on my pulled pork?”

lol - right. It may have tasted great, but living in the South for so long, I refuse weird "fru fru" BBQ. If you're gonna make BBQ, do it right.

 

Quote

And okay, let’s be specific. It’s North Carolina style with about four (?) intrastate regional variations, rather than just “Carolina.” I was being lazy, which one should not do when discussing BBQ.

ha! Yeah - well, two diff NC ones, really. There's Eastern NC (the vinegar based) and Western, or more commonly, "Lexington" BBQ (more of a ketchup-y based sauce that most think of when they think of BBQ sauce).

South Carolina has its own which has more of a mustard-based sauce. 

Quote

One thing that irks me no end is when a restaurant offers “pulled pork,” but without cole slaw and with dry, tasteless meat drowning in cloyingly sweet gloppy sauce. Dry rubbed, tender pulled pork must stand up on its own. Sauce must be an enhancement, not a tool to hide crappy meat.

Exactly! And it's amazing how many BBQ places do that. Around here we have a chain called "Qs"...dry and bland. It's terrible. 

 

[widower2]

1 hour ago, foreverhis said:

No doubt I had the idea of there being more small regional differences by mixing SC (that's called "gold" because of the mustard, I think?).

Yep! I've never had but hope to try some time. Eastern NC is my fav, but I love BBQ in general. It's cool that there are diff styles.

Just please, no fruit.   

[Gail 8588]

You folks are way more knowledgable about bbq than I am.  I just know I like Smokey's pork sandwiches. Seasoned with a dry rub, slow cooked in the huge smoker right on site for 6 hours or more. Moist and melt in your mouth tender meat. They put about a pound of meat on the sandwich and you can choose from a variety of sauces. Slaw, beans and a can of soda for $11.00 or just the sandwich for $8.00.

Wish I lived closer to St Augustine. 

My positive is just remembering those tasty sandwiches.  

Otherwise, still sick, but I do think I am slowly getting better.

[widower2]

It's odd, I lived in Raleigh for awhile, and there  was little in the way of good BBQ places there. What's that all about? 

My fav locally is actually a food truck that frequents a winery I go to sometimes. Nothing fancy, just good straight ahead BBQ. 

[KayC]

Good thing I'm still full from yesterday's Chinese (FBS 112, up 12 pts from yesterday so they must have marinated everything in sugar) but not bad considering.  Had a great day yesterday, went way too fast.

Transformer blew at 1:20 am and after being up checking everything while electrical went crazy, no getting back to sleep, will be tired today.

[SSC]

All this talk of BBQ…yummmmm…I’ve thought about driving to Florida and stopping along the way for the good stuff.  Doing research.  We just don’t have good authentic BBQ here in Utah (at least that I’m aware of).  Some Hawaiian influences that are delicious, still no good poke tho.

My family isn’t keen on me doing the road trip thing alone so I guess I’ll fly this time.  I’ll try the restaurants you posted @Gail 8588 in St. Augustine (thank you!)  I’ll impress my kids while in town there by having  intel on some delish food!  It’d be cool to take some time to explore up the coast and try the local cuisine too.  Love me some seafood!!

[Gail 8588]

13 hours ago, SSC said:

It’d be cool to take some time to explore up the coast and try the local cuisine too.  Love me some seafood!!

My favorite seafood place is south of St Augustine in Flagler Beach called Flagler Fish Company.  No ocean view, no ambiance, just delicious fresh seafood and sides. A little pricey, and there is always a wait to get in. It's where the locals go to get great seafood. 

The drive down A1A to get to Flagler Beach from St Augustine is absolutely gorgeous.  Driving through some beautiful coastal hammocks then right on the ocean edge.  From January through March you may be lucky enough to see Right Whales. They come to calve here every year. I've seen many mother calve pairs there.  Always there are pods of dolphins rolling by. 

Lots of nice artsy shops to explore near Flagler Fish Company as you kill some time waiting for your table.

Enjoy 

[Gail 8588]

 As for my positive for today, I have a big one. My nephew and his wife have been trying for a baby for five years. They have had several heartbreaking miscarriages. But today they were blessed with a beautiful baby boy, full term, 8 lbs.  Mother and child doing well, father is euphoric.  This is my 10th great nephew, have 2 great nieces as well.

I am so very happy for this couple who have been wanting this baby for so long.

Life is good.

[LMR]

3 hours ago, Gail 8588 said:

My favorite seafood place is south of St Augustine in Flagler Beach called Flagler Fish Company.  No ocean view, no ambiance, just delicious fresh seafood and sides. A little pricey, and there is always a wait to get in. It's where the locals go to get great seafood. 

The drive down A1A to get to Flagler Beach from St Augustine is absolutely gorgeous.  Driving through some beautiful coastal hammocks then right on the ocean edge.  From January through March you may be lucky enough to see Right Whales. They come to calve here every year. I've seen many mother calve pairs there.  Always there are pods of dolphins rolling by. 

Lots of nice artsy shops to explore near Flagler Fish Company as you kill some time waiting for your table.

Enjoy 

Thank you. You made me smile today. I have funny memories of Flagler beach from many years ago. We broke down there and spent a couple of days waiting for parts to get us back on the road. There was very little there back then. We found a burger joint and were served by a Rab C Nesbitt look alike, see above. I don't know if the show ever made it to US. We could actually see the sweat dripping off him onto the fryer. We didn't eat it, we were imagining him shaping the patties in his arm pit! We found another restaurant and ordered. Waited and waited and waited. There was a big argument going on between mother and son - the owners. We saw him approaching with our food, argument still in progress and just as he reached us he turned to his mum and threw the plates at her. No food for us that day. Thanks for the memory.

[LMR]

3 hours ago, Gail 8588 said:

 As for my positive for today, I have a big one. My nephew and his wife have been trying for a baby for five years. They have had several heartbreaking miscarriages. But today they were blessed with a beautiful baby boy, full term, 8 lbs.  Mother and child doing well, father is euphoric.  This is my 10th great nephew, have 2 great nieces as well.

I am so very happy for this couple who have been wanting this baby for so long.

Life is good.

Congratulations Gail. I'm so happy for you and your family.

[KayC]

Gail, that is wonderful news!  Congratulations to the happy couple!

Mine yesterday was for a moment...Kodie and I walking at the park's trail and I see a salamander (I used to have one as a pet when I was a child), I moved him out of harm's way and set him in the grass.  I didn't want a biker to run over him!

Also, end of service, pastor leading congregational singing, and I hear something else quietly...Kodie singing.  I love it. The pastor did too when I told him about it.

[Gail 8588]

@LMR Oh my!  Flagler Beach is better now, give it another try.

I have some of those disaster trip memories too (probably everyone has). They weren't much fun living through, but they are hysterical stories for the rest of your life. I had a great laugh just reading your account!

[Gail 8588]

@KayC So glad you helped the salamander out.  They are such gentle creatures.  I had them as afternoon pets as a child. My brother always made me let them go after a few hours as he said they didn't live long in captivity. (He would keep snakes he caught for months, much to my mother's dismay.)  

I haven't seen a salamander in years. Thanks for keeping that one safe.

I love Kodie quietly singing too.

[KayC]

My dad made a cage for it, I remember catching flies for it to eat.  I finally decided it could better fend for itself than I could and it'd be happier let loose so I let it go.  But I missed it.  One day it came back to find me, that was so sweet.  I guess it didn't think me a captor so much as a friend.  But I'm glad I freed it.  They're meant to be free.

[RichS]

Got some good news this morning. I went to our local auto mechanic shop to check on an oil leak in our van. The manager (a real honest guy) that runs the place took a look and five minutes later told me that older cars tend to leak oil. Nothing major to worry about, just check the oil level once a week. Even though there are several leaks on various parts of the engine, so far no real loss of oil. That and he assured me that it's safe to drive. To top it off, he charged me nothing for his opinion; and saved me hundreds of $$$. Not all mechanic shops would be that honest!

I hope I get to "repay the favor" to someone in the near future. It's the right thing to do and helps to make this world a semi-decent place to exist in.